Draw me!

As I have two brothers and my little sisters, the novices, the days would be too short were I to ask in detail for the needs of each soul, and I fear I might forget something important. Simple souls cannot understand complicated methods, and, as I am one of their number, Our Lord has inspired me with a very simple way of fulfilling my obligations. One day, after Holy Communion, He made me understand these words of the Canticles : “Draw me: we will run after You to the fragrance of Your ointments.” (Canticles 1:3) O my Jesus, there is no need to say: “In drawing me, draw also the souls that I love”: these words, “Draw me,” suffice. When a soul has let herself be taken captive by the inebriating fragrance of Your perfumes, she cannot run alone; as a natural consequence of her attraction towards You, the souls of all those she loves are drawn in her train. Just as a torrent carries into the depths of the sea all that it meets on its way, so, my Jesus, does the soul who plunges into the shoreless ocean of Your Love bring with it all its treasures. My treasures are the souls it has pleased You to unite with mine; You have confided them to me, and therefore I do not fear to use Your own words, uttered by You on the last night that saw You still a traveller on this earth.

Jesus, my Beloved! I know not when my exile will have an end. Many a night I may yet sing Your Mercies here below, but for me also will come the last night, and then I shall be able to say: “I have glorified You upon earth: I have finished the work which You gave me to do. I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given me out of the world. Yours they were, and to me You gave them; and they have kept Your word. Now they have known that all things which You have given me are from You; because the words which You gave me I have given to them; and they have received them, and have known for certain that I came forth from You, and they have believed that You sent me. I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them whom You have given me, because they are Yours. And all mine are Yours, and Yours are mine; and I am glorified in them. And now I am no more in the world, and these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, whom You has given me, that they may be one, as we also are one. And now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy filled in themselves. I do not ask that You take them away out of the world, but that You preserve them from evil. They are not of the world, as I also am not of the world. And not for them only do I pray, but for those also who through their word shall believe in me. Father, I will that where I am they also whom You have given me may be with me, that they may see my glory which You have given me, because You have loved me before the foundation of the world. And I have made known Your name to them, and will make it known, that the love wherewith You have loved me may be in them and I in them.” (cf. John 17) 

Yes, Lord, thus would I repeat Your words, before losing myself in Your loving embrace. Perhaps it is daring, but, for a long time, have You not allowed me to be daring with You? You said to me, as the Prodigal’s father to his elder son: “All I have is yours.” (Lk 15:31). And therefore I may use Your very own words to draw down favours from Our Heavenly Father on all who are dear to me. My God, You know that I have ever desired to love You alone. It has been my only ambition. Your love has gone before me, even from the days of my childhood. It has grown with my growth, and now it is an abyss whose depths I cannot fathom.

Love attracts love; mine darts towards You, and would fain make the abyss brim over, but alas! It is not even as a dewdrop in the ocean. To love You as You loves me, I must make Your Love my own. Thus alone can I find rest. O my Jesus, it seems to me that You could not have overwhelmed a soul with more love than You have poured out on mine, and that is why I dare ask You to love those You have given me, even as You love me. If, in Heaven, I find that You love them more than You love me, I shall rejoice, for I acknowledge that their deserts are greater than mine, but now, I can conceive no love more vast than that with which You have favoured me, without any merit on my part.

Thérèse of Lisieux